Nothing's in $_POST. Is there something wrong with my code?

Question

I am fairly new to JavaScript and PHP, and it's the first time to encounter and use JSON. I think my AJAX request is fine, but even so, the $_POST array is empty.

Here is the AJAX call:

$( "#submit" ).click( function() {
    var submit_basic = $.post( 'index.php/submit_data/pass_basic_data',
                                get_experience_data()
                             );
    submit_basic.done( function(data) {
       alert(data);  // for debugging purposes
    });
});

And this is the function that takes the data from a table:

function get_experience_data() {

    var temp, data_exp = [];
    $( "#exptable tbody tr" ).each( function() {

        temp = {
            company: $(this).find('td').eq(0).html(),
            position: $(this).find('td').eq(1).html(),
            datestart: $(this).find('td').eq(2).html(),
            dateend: $(this).find('td').eq(3).html(),
            description: $(this).find('td').eq(4).html()
        };

        data_exp = data_exp.concat(temp);

     });

     return data_exp;
}

And for reference, the destination controller function that only prints the $_POST array (by the way I am using CodeIgniter):

public function pass_basic_data() {
    var_dump($_POST);        
}

Can you please pinpoint the error I've made, since I can't find it. Thanks a lot!

UPDATE: I am getting this message in particular:

array(1) {
  ["undefined"] =>
  string(0) ""
}

UPDATE:

Thanks for all the help guys! I already solved it. It made me dance all around the room. I wrapped the return value in a {name : value} pair.

$( "#submit" ).click( function() {
    var post_vars = get_experience_data();
    var submit_basic = $.post( 'index.php/submit_data/pass_basic_data',
                                {object: post_vars}
                             );
    submit_basic.done( function(data) { 
       alert(data);  // for debugging purposes
    });

});

I don't think that `get_experience_data()` will wait until all the `.each()` callbacks complete before returning. — Álvaro González, May 10 '13 at 10:38
Don't worry, `$.each` is blocking - it will wait for it to complete. — Christoffer, May 10 '13 at 12:15
i think this would be much simpler: `var submit_basic = $.post( 'index.php/submit_data/pass_basic_data', $("#exptable").serialize() );` ...and you dont even need the extra function — ppseprus, May 10 '13 at 21:23

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered May 10 '13 at 10:19

0

I would suggest doing the following for a start :

var submit_basic = $.post('index.php/submit_data/pass_basic_data', get_experience_data());

answered May 10 '13 at 10:19

Laurent S.

6,816
2
28
40

Thanks for pointing out, that was a typo, but still I am getting this error which makes me think that the $_POST is empty: array(1) { ["undefined"]=> string(0) "" } – Oliver Acera Galleguez May 10 '13 at 10:22
You're actually sending 'undefined' to the server because your function call to get_experience_data() is failing (or the result is undef). – deed02392 May 10 '13 at 10:41

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 10 '13 at 10:19

Try this:

var submit_basic = $.post('index.php/submit_data/pass_basic_data', get_experience_data());
// you need to add parentheses here --------------------------------------------------^

When you pass a function to $.post() it assumes it is a callback that is to be called after the response is received. What you want to do is call the function and pass it's return value in to $.post().

By the way, this line:

data_exp = data_exp.concat(temp);

could be replaced with:

data_exp.push(temp);

No need to be creating a new array every time if you're just adding a value to the end.

Thanks for pointing out. That was a typo. Still $_POST is empty. — Oliver Acera Galleguez, May 10 '13 at 10:25

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 10 '13 at 10:20

0

You need to execute the method get_experience_data, otherwise you are passing the function not executing it

answered May 10 '13 at 10:20

acj

134
4

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered May 10 '13 at 10:31

0

try troubleshooting the actual jquery, not the php part. but heres a suggestion:

var post_vars = get_experience_data();
var submit_basic = $.post( 'index.php/submit_data/pass_basic_data', post_vars );

answered May 10 '13 at 10:31

ppseprus

538
1
8
26

Tried it, still the same result. – Oliver Acera Galleguez May 10 '13 at 10:43
you could try to console log the variable passed to the query as submitting it.. so before `return data_exp;` add `console.log(data_exp);` and see if the variable is passed on correctly. – ppseprus May 10 '13 at 10:50
also, you could try defining the data type `var submit_basic = $.post('index.php/submit_data/pass_basic_data', get_experience_data(), "json");` – ppseprus May 10 '13 at 10:55
..however, i think that is only for the returned data. but this page http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.post/ shows that variables your pass on in the query should be either PlainObject or String type – ppseprus May 10 '13 at 10:57
I can see the objects in the console. – Oliver Acera Galleguez May 10 '13 at 11:05
here is the problem: http://jsfiddle.net/y37ve/ the way you set up your array is not a plain object – ppseprus May 10 '13 at 11:20
the {} brackets wont just work in the ajax, however, here's a topic you could cheek out: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5570747/jquery-posting-json – ppseprus May 10 '13 at 11:27
How do I set up the array as a plain object? – Oliver Acera Galleguez May 10 '13 at 12:30

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 08 '13 at 20:51

here is a conclusion to my previous answer plus the comments, but im still not sure if you could stingify arrays in arrays..

var submit_basic = $.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    url: 'index.php/submit_data/pass_basic_data',
    dataType: 'json',
    async: false,
    data: JSON.stringify(get_experience_data()),
    success: function (response) {
        alert(response);
    }
});

UPDATE: modify your get_experience_data function according to this jsfiddle script

like this:

temp = '{ ';
temp+= '"company":"'  +$(this).find('td').eq(0).html()+  '", ';
temp+= '"position":"'  +$(this).find('td').eq(1).html()+  '", ';
temp+= '"datestart":"'  +$(this).find('td').eq(2).html()+  '", ';
temp+= '"dateend":"'  +$(this).find('td').eq(3).html()+  '", ';
temp+= '"description":"'  +$(this).find('td').eq(4).html()+  '"';
temp+= ' }';

This gets me a JSON Parse Error. – Oliver Acera Galleguez May 10 '13 at 12:30 — Oliver Acera Galleguez, May 10 '13 at 12:30

Nothing's in $_POST. Is there something wrong with my code?

5 Answers5